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December 13, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Sera Cahoone (Bonus Session)

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Sera Cahoone with Jeff Fielder ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

I’m so glad to see this recording see the light of day because it highlights Sera Cahoone cohort Jeff Fielder’s ongoing contribution on dobro. I can honestly think of no greater purpose than for him to compliment Cahoone’s still nationally unheralded voice and songwriting. Her talent deserves his level of accompaniment, and his talent deserves a person of her quality to work with. To hear Fielder with Cahoone is to wonder why there aren’t more dobro’s kicking around in popular music. And to wonder why Cahoone isn’t a nationally renowned voice yet.

 

 

If you watched this and immediately thought of Jerry Douglas, you weren’t the only one. And that says it all.

December 29th Cahoone, along with Fielder and a few other friends are headlining the Tractor Tavern for $12. Sons of Warren Oats and Jackrabbit are in support. Get Tickets for $12 + fees online or with no fees at Sonic Boom Records.

November 23, 2011

A Doe Bay Sessions Screening & Fundraiser

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On a week of Thanksgiving, we are most certainly feeling thankful for those of you who stopped by the site every Tuesday to see what band we’d be sharing each week and where at Doe Bay they’d be singing. We loved reading your comments and seeing you share the Sessions, every Tuesday was a little like watching a friend unwrap a present you couldn’t wait for them to open.

With Pickwick singing down the sun yesterday (and our most watched video on day one EVER!) the 2011 Doe Bay sessions have officially come to an end and the Sound on the Sound video crew is starting to think ahead to 2012′s sessions and new video series. But not without one last celebration … a special screening of the Doe Bay Sessions on the big screen at Columbia City Theater on December 11th. Not only will you get to see your favorite sessions like you’ve never seen them before, we’ll also be debuting some new never before seen sessions from 2011 and a few of our favorite Doe Bay Session alumnus will reprise their sessions on stage. Plus, we have some other fun surprises in the works.

All proceeds from the evening, which we’re asking for a $5 donation, will go to funding 2012′s Doe Bay Sessions and maybe paying our incredible crew (Tyler Kalberg behind the camera, Chris Proff behind the mic and Claire Yucker corraling everyone) a tiny bit for all their incredible hard work and dedication. Without them, the Doe Bay Sessions would just be a dream. If you’ve enjoyed the sessions, we’d love to see you and say thanks for watching on Sunday December 11th.

p.s. Out-of-State Doe Bay Session fans, we’re SO excited (and mind-blown) you want to donate to help fund next year’s Sessions. We’re in the process of setting up a pay-pal so you can and we’ll share that info here shortly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 22, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Pickwick

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Pickwick ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

In late 2010 the conversations I had with Pickwick guitarist and co-songwriter Michael Parker were often about Doe Bay Fest. As far as Parker was concerned, if Pickwick made it on the 2011 Doe Bay Fest lineup, he would count that a successful year for Pickwick. This modest goal reflected just how tough years of developing Pickwick had been up until that point. The pursuit of music had been a humbling lesson from day one in Seattle. But shortly into the new year as their shows swelled to sell-out proportions at places like the Tractor, the Crocodile and Columbia City Theater and Pickwick had to reprint 7″s, it was clear their time spent was finally paying off and this was a very modest goal. A booking at Doe Bay Fest would prove to be simply the first of a string higher profile bookings in summer and fall that would include Bumbershoot, City Arts Fest, MusicFest NW in Portland, and now to round out the year, a headlining bill at the newly reopened Neptune Theater (capacity 999) in Seattle.

In addition to turning heads as a six-piece soul explosion, with various a capella appearances throughout the winter the band also established themselves as vocalists of note, adding a dimension to an emerging live presence that most other new groups just can’t muster. Our mid-summer Doe Bay Session would be the debut of another layer, an acoustic version of themselves; featuring Parker reaching back to the Pickwick of yore for a go at the slide guitar as a counterpoint to the Casio-organ-backed harmonies supporting frontman Galen Disston’s ever more confident presence.

For this session, we would return to the place we ended last year’s Doe Bay Sessions with the Head and The Heart, who had gone from yoga studio performers to the festival headliner that Pickwick would be warming up the mainstage for this year. During a half-hour break in the lively Open Mic at the Cafe a crowd of nearly 100 gathered to watch with a purple sky and Doe Bay itself as a backdrop. It would mark the beginning of a weekend of realization for Pickwick of the year they had had and just how much they deserved to be playing main-support on the mainstage. At the weekend’s peak they’d break the stage with all the friends they brought up in excitement, but here we find them seated and the songs concentrated to emphasize Disston bringing the words to life. Parker’s bottleneck style casts a shadow over their hit “Hacienda Motel,” a shadow that this close listen to the words reveals has always been lurking, but until just this moment, had always been left unacknowledged.

 

 

The 2011 Doe Bay Sessions – Pickwick from Sound on the Sound on Vimeo.

 

Pickwick is joined at the Neptune Theater on December 8th by Campfire OK and Jessica Dobson. The rest of their December will be spent in the studio recording their first LP. They return to Portland January 13th with Bryan John Appleby at the Doug Fir.

On December 11th, Sound on the Sound will be having a Doe Bay Session screening party where we’ll be showing some unpublished session tracks on a big screen and inviting a few alumni in sing a few songs as well. The money raised that night will go to making 2012′s Doe Bay Session’s better than ever.

November 8, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: John Vanderslice

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John Vanderslice and Dianna Potter ::: photo by Dylan Priest

 

 

“The longer I’m out here, the more I forget who I was.” - John Vanderslice, D.I.A.L.O

We’ve talked a lot about artists embracing “the spirit of Doe Bay” in these write ups. Whether you call it “Doe Bay Magic” or a “community of collaboration” or you don’t have a name for it, there is undeniably something about that weekend on Orcas Island that banishes barriers and encourages artists to engage with each other and fellow festival goers in a way unseen the other 51 weekends of the year. And its not just the artists for who the barriers are banished, somewhere between Anacortes and Olga, the Seattle freeze thaws and people seem more friendly and open walking down a trail than they do walking down Pine. Gone are the quiet, awkward passings and avoiding a stranger’s eye-contact. Here, “hello’s” and “good day” bounce through the alder grove with every person who walks by.

“The longer I’m out here, the more I forget who I was” sings John Vanderslice at the beginning of D.I.A.L.O And in the context of time spent at Doe Bay, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Vanderslice, one of the few artists who flew in from outside the Cascadian borders to perform at Doe Bay Fest dove head first into the spirit and experience of the Festival. With ties to the Northwest, but not roots, one worried he might feel like an outsider, but few if any artists embraced the collaborative spirit of Doe Bay tighter than JV. During his sunny afternoon sing-along he invited new and old friends on stage to sing harmonies with him, including Melodie Knight (from Campfire OK), Jace Krause (from Friday Mile & Fort Union) and his old merch girl, Dianna Potter. Then, of course, there was his torchlit word-of-mouth set under the Doe Bay apple tree with Damien Jurado, where he was also joined by Potter on harmonies. Nearly every song and collaboration Vanderslice participated in was punctuated by a toothy grin, a tight squeeze or some exclamation of delight.

So too was Vaderslice’s crack of dawn Doe Bay Session. With all that collaborating, exploring and enjoying, there just wasn’t another moment that worked to film JV, save 30 minutes on Sunday morning before he tried to catch a 6-something-AM ferry to the mainland. With a scheduled start time of 5:15am, Vanderslice was still bursting with positive energy and kind words. Joined again by his vocal sidekick and friend Dianna Potter, Vanderslice sang the sun up as a misty morning light crept through the Doe Bay Alder grove. As 99% of the rest of the festival slept, a couple fellow early morning risers and ferry catchers, stumbled through the filming, backpacks in tow, rubbing sleep from their eyes, looking around and wondering “am I dreaming?” Hell, we wondered ourselves as our sound guy Chris Proff dozed off mid-trail to LSD-inspired-lullabies and then as we watched Vanderslice bound through the trees as soon as the final cut ended in hopes of catching the early ferry. Standing there in the trail, still rubbing sleep from our eyes ourselves, the Session filmed in less than half an hour, we wondered aloud “was that a dream?”

No, it was better.

 

 

November 1, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside

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Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside

Photo by Josh Lovseth

Oregonians Adam and Eve and their son Donovan were just finishing packing up their campsite on Saturday afternoon as we rolled up and set up shop mid-trail. They’d spent the previous weekend in the woods for Pickathon and after a second weekend in a row among nature were now ready to find their own bed again. There was time for one more performance though, since it was Sallie Ford they’d come to see after all. Or that Donavan had come to see rather. That we’d chosen just that spot at just that time was Doe Bay magic in full effect for that little boy. The week prior Ford and Co. had been on Letterman in front of millions, but now they were happily stomping their feet in the dirt on a trail in front of one lucky superfan.

Jaunty strums and catchy chorus’ counteract the often dark themes in Ford’s lyrics and the two songs played in this session are no exception. Ford and band make bad situations danceable and takes the sting out with call-and-response harmonies and a rhythm to move to. From the opening moments of “Cage,” the second song in this Doe Bay Session, the “doo-doo-doo” harmonies and the bouncing shoulders we get the sense that the best way to deal with the devil is to have your fun in spite of him.

 

 

 

Friday November 18th Sallie Ford kicks off a round of East Coast and European dates with a send off show at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland, where they’ll be joined by Seattle’s Pickwick.

October 25, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Frank Fairfield

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Frank Fairfield and band with Kyle Zantos ::: Polaroid courtesy of Dylan Priest

Amongst a field of indie kids and folk bands Doe Bay’s ground’s, Frank Fairfield was an old schoolhouse, full of knowledge and looking and sounding every bit the part of a by-gone era. Though Fairfield’s not a local, his on-stage educational talks on the fiddle to 2am busking station jam sessions made him just as much a vibrant contributor to the collaborative and musical mood of the festival as the veterans and locals.

Still not fully awake Friday morning as we wandered in search of a coffee cart we stumbled into Fairfield and band warming up next to the mainstage field where fellow banjo wiz Kyle Zantos had gravitated to the situation and managed to sneak in a lead here and there. This is how I always imagined a more free form folk festival might flow, people plopping down where-ever they may be or meet to jam and live the music. Little did we expect that moment would be reprised for our camera the next day on our sun-kissed forest location playfully named “the Hobbit Hill.”

 

 

Sound on the Sound wasn’t the only set of folks filming at the fourth edition of Doe Bay Fest. A group of documentarians wandered about catching the spirit of the festival for a presentation they are calling “Welcome to Doe Bay.” November 11th Frank Fairfield will headline Columbia City Theater for a party to help fund a Kickstarter goal set by the crew to finish this documentary with quality.

October 18, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: The Head & The Heart

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Photo by Josh Lovseth

“All that I’m asking for is a place to call my own, a place to call home.”

Last year when we shared The Head and The Heart’s first Doe Bay Session, it had just been announced they would be opening for Vampire Weekend at the Paramount. A huge leap forward for the band and, at the time, their largest local show to date. Today, as we share The Head and The Heart’s second Doe Bay Session, they are about to open for Death Cab for Cutie at the Key Arena, which again will end up being the band’s largest local show to date. In the year between, The Head and The Heart have celebrated many milestones: signing to Sub Pop, playing late night talk shows, captivating the mainstage of Sasquatch, being on the cover of Billboard Magazine, criss-crossing the country and the Atlantic for an ever-growing, ever-louder fanbase. They have in the year between spent all-told a total of two months at home, mostly a day at a time, which perhaps is why their longing for home and “a place to call their own” is more palpable than ever.

This sunny August Sunday evening, as the sun crept behind Mt. Constitution and Doe Bay 2011 came to a close, we gathered down on the beach at Otter Cove to enjoy one last moment of collaborative magic in front of Two Bar, the beach-side margarita haven curated by Scott and Jenny that had served as an after-hours shadow stage all weekend. The Head and The Heart were joined by Kyle Zantos (the unofficial house banjo player of Doe Bay) and Damien Jurado, as they performed for a growing crowd of foot-ferry passengers who were packing out. Before letting anyone go though, we had one last thing to do. Sing.

Performing two new songs “Oh Virginia” and “Josh McBride,” the Head and The Heart’s chorus would eventually grow to include the well over a hundred plus people watching the session be filmed. “Oh Virginia, you’re callin’ out my name!” John Russell lead his choir that would grow to include all assembled in a plea for his childhood home. “Now I’m a stranger! Ohhhh, ohhhh, ohhhh!” The refrain was bittersweet, perhaps applying to everywhere the band may be that isn’t a two-lane highway, an 8 person van or whatever stage that they might be standing on.

Between the songs a small group of departing souls climbed aboard the foot-ferry and waved goodbye to band and gathered crowd alike. As they rumbled out of Otter Cove, those who remained were treated to pebbles for percussion and Charity, Josiah and John’s raw harmonies. A collage of lifelong memories and longing for more than a transient life, unreleased live staple “Josh McBride” becomes more poignant as time passes and for the band home seems to exist as small shapes standing on rocky shore, always waving goodbye for now.

 

On Saturday October 22nd The Head and the Heart are opening for Death Cab For Cutie at Key Arena. After a blessed few weeks at home, in November they’ll be circling Europe in support of My Morning Jacket.

PS. If you can spot Slacksquatch lurking in the background, you win a gold star

September 27, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Kelli Schaefer

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Kelli Schaefer and Band ::: portrait by Dylan Priest

 

 

Normally we venture to the far end of an island in the northwestern most section of our great state, and indeed our nation’s “lower 48,” in order to renew our connection with nature and realize serenity. But morning, noon and night, while Doe Bay Fest was happening, this little corner of the world was pulsing with sound. I wouldn’t have had it any other way, but it also made the job of timing our recording sessions crucial. Kelli Schaefer requesting to do her session a capella doubled that pressure.

The day after, festivities were extended unofficially while folks lingered and enjoyed the rare perfect climate of summer just making itself known. A massive waterslide pointing head-down towards the mainstage cropped up, while down toward the beach the Otter Cove Stage was still bustling with unplanned performances from other bands. This meant finding a quiet corner was nigh impossible. We knew it keenly once we’d spent hours roaming the entire grounds for a spot perfectly secluded from sound. Our original prime location in the garden was out due to the cheering hillside waterslide party. After a fair share of roaming, eventually it was decided upon the empty Yoga studio would be Kelli’s venue. But we would still have to wait until the last band at the otter cove stage since a window pane was missing after Friday night’s porch-crushing Lemolo set.

Though initially planned as a quicky solo performance, as Kelli spent time in the Yoga Studio preparing, she invited her band to join her in coaxing the most from this room with unusual acoustics. Right there on the spot, in just short of an hour Kelli and her band reworked one song for us, with only their voices. Then, they recorded it in one take, for just the camera, and a few souls who’d gathered around the missing window pane behind the band as they sang.

 

 

Obviously, that went so well that as we were packing up, the band was already planning their own entirely a capella set in the same room for later that evening. As darkness finally took hold, that set would culminate in a rousing arm-in-arm sing-along of “Stand By Me.” Moments like this can’t be, and probably shouldn’t be, planned. That this kind of spontaneity is allowed to organically happen at Doe Bay Fest and in it’s wake is what makes it a place not quite like any other. And not just that it can happen but that these moments do happen. When we’re talking about “Doe Bay Magic” this is what we mean.

That Kelli Schaefer created this new concept, practiced it, and then executed it twice with her band all in a matter of hours in front of people shows why Schaefer continues to keep us intrigued: she is in constant movement, a perpetual state of self exploration and growth. Most bands are trying to be as practiced as possible to make their songs sound about the same every time. Schaefer’s songs on the other hand are alive in her hands, when she’s decided on a “standard” version of a song that means she’s finally wrestled that demon into submission and is ready to confront the next.

“I used to go down in the well,” she intones in this new track. “Fee-ling… everything.” Used to?

September 20, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Champagne Champagne

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Champagne Champagne ::: photo by Josh Lovseth

 

 

Of all the sessions we planned, Champagne Champagne was the one where we didn’t know quite what to expect. On-stage Pearl and Thomas don’t simply rhyme, they’re fierce performers endowing their raps with real-time meaning that’s irreverent and fun but also dense with pop culture commentary. You bet these guys are trying to be the life of the party, and at Doe Bay Fest they succeeded completely. Following their Friday night mainstage headlining set, the universal call-and-response for the weekend became “Doe Bay! Doe Bay!” So for our picnic table session earlier that day, three acoustic guitars was obviously not what we expected at all. They’d done some alternative preparation. A lot of it.

While the Builders and the Butchers pounded it out in the crowd on the mainstage, we played host to possibly the mellowest Champagne Champagne renditions on record. And yet, it is still the dirtiest and wildest session we’ve filmed. These seated versions, joined by pup Linus, came out reflective of the playful but laid-back real-life personalities of Thomas and Pearl, who just as they had done with the rest of the fest, embraced our concept wholeheartedly. Before 2011, Champagne Champagne might have seemed stylistically outside of the box of a traditional Doe Bay artist, but after watching them freestyle with Bryan John Appleby late into the night, control an enrapt crowd, collaborate with Ravenna Woods and slay on our picnic table, no one will be saying that in 2012.

 

Champagne Champagne will be on a just announced a national tour with Macklemore throughout Autum 2011.

September 7, 2011

The Doe Bay Sessions: Sera Cahoone

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Sera Cahoone ::: photo by Dylan Priest

Sera Cahoone was the first artist we asked to shoot a Doe Bay Session this year, so it only seems fitting she’s the first we share with you.

We approached Sera bashfully about shooting with us. You see, we happen to think she has the prettiest voice of anyone singing in Seattle today and have felt that way for years and years. Long before banjo was en vogue in Ballard, Sera was singing along as Jeff Fielder strummed, delicate songs, sad songs, songs that quiver and swell with an alluring mix of self-consciousness and confidence.

We asked Sera about shooting like a shy suitor, explaining in detail what the sessions were, what our intentions were, and our long held devotion to her songs. We were ecstatic when Sera emailed us back instantly to say she’d love to shoot a session and that last Fall, when she was on tour with the band, they gathered round the computer every Tuesday to watch the latest Session and that they helped the drive go faster. We sat in awe for a moment that someone we loved so fiercely, also loved something we had created.

When it came time to shoot Sera and Jeff on Saturday afternoon, the sun streamed perfectly through mossy branches and a small crowd gathered to watch. We all sat silently, smitten as ever, as Jeff and Sera exchanged smiles and harmonies, graciously bowing to the crowd after each take and regaling us with tales of last fall’s tour and watching the sessions. It was exactly as we had planned, only so much better.

You can see Sera next Friday September 16th at the Neptune as she performs as part of the Bourbon & Broads event. Celebrating National Bourbon Hertiage month, Sera will be playing with a full band (including Jeff Fielder) and other lovely ladies such as Betsy Olson, Maggie Bjorklund, Alessandra Rose, Shelby Earl and Side Saddle will be taking the stage.